It Takes A Village

Listening to all the nearly vicious political debates in the news, I began to wonder. In the middle of all of this, who is watching out for the children?

Is this truly the example we want them to learn?

How can we claim to be good Christians if we live a life filled with hate? Children hear and remember our words, but they learn and mimic our actions.

Are we taking hopes and dreams away from the future of our nation?

It is little short of a miracle that modern methods of instruction have not completely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry.” Albert Einstein

This year, I have been so disappointed in the school my daughter attends. They built a brand new school and football stadium, but they have less teachers teaching more students, and classes without enough (if any) books.

Discipline issues are at an all time high which seems to coincide with how these kids are treated. I have heard teachers speak to children in a manner that I would not speak to a rabid dog. And we wonder what has happened to the attitude of teenagers? If we treat our children like thugs, guess how they start acting?

Yes, we as parents are fully responsible for our children, but does it mean we don’t stand up for the children of others? Why on earth do we allow anyone to treat a child with disrespect? I agree there are some incredible teachers out there and they are simply not paid enough, but I also believe we have teachers right now that shouldn’t even be allowed to train an animal, let alone our children.

It doesn’t stop there either. Spend one day living the life of a teenager, and tell me what you see. Cops hassling kids hanging out at a park for the day? Why? Because they MIGHT be thugs? A couple of teens take their allowance to a store to buy new things and they are followed by security. Why? Because they MIGHT be thugs?

If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” Bernard Baruch

Again, I agree there are problems out there, serious problems that desperately need to be solved. I just don’t believe that labeling all children with the same cloth is the answer.

Yeah, I was in the mood to rant. I will step back off my soapbox now. 😉

P.S. A special shout out to all my friends who are participating in day 17 of the V7N 30 Day Blog Challenge. I know you can do it!

I feel so strongly about this subject. I used to work with a youth group. When I was no longer working with them the lady that took my spot was furious that I continued to speak to and befriend the girls…. WHAT??? I thought that was everyone’s job. I am so grateful for the adults my daughter could talk to when her mother was just not “with it”. 🙂 They need all the love they can get! If not from us, it will come from the “thugs”. And that is enough of my soap box for this evening!!

As a ‘kid’ myself though, I have to admit that the majority my age and a little younger tend to instigate most issues that you hear about. If cops don’t check up on kids hanging out then they won’t be able to single out the crack dealers. I know kids 16 dealing for their brothers and this is not a one off incident. If security doesn’t keep an eye on kids in stores then shoplifters will steal from our families/friends stores and cost us a fortune.

“Petty theft is America’s number one committed crime; one out of eleven people shoplift with 25% of those people being juveniles.”

There are 2 sides to every story as there are many sides to society. Sure we get to feel the heat of discrimination because we’re younger, sure we’re not happy with how our schools and colleges priorities based on what suits them sometimes, but things won’t change until YOU, our parents, people in communities speak up for us. Our voices as a younger generation doesn’t always get heard when it comes to schools and some other aspects of society. It’s up to people like Cricket to help us. Write into you kids schools, not to complain but to question them, to ask WHY? Write to your local PD and ask WHY? You’ll get a million excuses that are all we hear, but if enough ask that same question then maybe things would change?